1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to user interfaces and, in particular, to user interfaces for handheld devices.
2. Background Technology
Many companies earn a substantial amount of revenue from displaying advertisements on the web pages of their websites. Often, this advertising revenue is directly or indirectly linked to how many times these advertisements are viewed or clicked. For these companies, bringing visitors to their websites is crucial.
To help bring visitors to its website, a company may create a feed that includes headlines with associated links that point to web pages of the company's website. A feed reader may be configured to download the feed and then display headlines and links from the feed. Upon selection of a particular link from a feed, the feed reader may trigger the downloading and display of a web page associated with link. RSS—which is short for “RDF Site Summary,” “Rich Site Summary” or “Really Simple Syndication”—is one exemplary format for a feed. Another exemplary format for a feed is Atom.
One typical feed reader includes categories into which one or more feeds may be added. To browse to a feed, a category is first selected from a list of categories and, in response, the feeds in the category are listed. Second, an individual feed within the category is selected and, in response, the individual feed is downloaded and its headlines and links are displayed for selection. To browse to another feed, the feed reader first browses back to the list of the feeds in the current category. If the desired feed is within the current category, the desired feed is selected and, in response, the desired feed is downloaded and its headlines and links are displayed for selection. If the desired feed is not within the current category, the feed reader browses back to the list of categories and the process starts over.
Unfortunately, such browsing can be tedious and time consuming, especially when using a handheld device. Further, many handheld devices have relatively smaller display screens, which can make displaying the content of the feeds more difficult. As understood by those skilled in the art, handheld devices—such as, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, palmtops, and the like—are smaller than conventional desktop and notebook computers, which may advantageously allow such handheld devices to be more conveniently carried.